Issue 7
SMC Food 21
Powder-Perfect Manufacturing With expansion on the cards, SMC Food 21 are working to achieve more efficient production of their powder based products Writer Emily Jarvis Project manager Callum Philp Established in 1999, SMC Food 21 Pte Ltd manufacture and expertly blend sugar, milk and cocoa powders for major markets in Japan, Korea, Indonesia and India, supplying some of the top companies in Japan. The abbreviated name stems from the three key ingredients that they process: Sugar, Milk and Cocoa (SMC), with the 21 standing for the 21st Century. Other products in their repertoire include ingredients for the confectionary, ice cream, beverages, bakery and sauce industries to name but a few. With an aim to provide customers with excellent service by supplying quality products and just-in-time delivery at competitive prices, SMC are proud to produce a large selection of honest food goods. Managing Director, My Cheng, told Asia Outlook how the company's mission - "quality Blends for quality Customers" – runs through the very veins of SMC: "As we supply to multinationals, it is crucial that we maintain good relationships with our major suppliers of sugar, milk and cocoa. As a result, we are able to source raw materials from all over the world, with a continued focus on quality for all our customers." With factories in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, SMC are able to produce their goods in the best geographical location possible and are therefore placed to become a very competitive supplier. Currently, the company process 100,000 tonnes of preparations, with a hope to reach…
Accesstech Engineering Singapore
Access all areas Accesstech have the expertise to perform prominent engineering construction ranging from pharmaceutical, biomedical, electronics and aerospace to name but a few Writer Matt Bone Project manager Tom Cullum Accesstech began as a tool and kit company primarily working on small installations. Through an effective and professional approach, the company have seen steady growth in both business size and project portfolio. Accesstech now specialise in working with high-tech companies, including industrial and factory engineering and office buildings for Fortune-500 companies. Founded in 1998 in Singapore, Accesstech have been expanding their expertise into various projects including luxury hotels and commercial properties. The company is ISO 9001, ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18001 certified. Roy Low, CEO of Accesstech, has seen the demand for the company's expertise grow steadily and believes that Accesstech are well placed to meet the growing and ever-changing needs of the industry. "We have been in business for the last 16 years and the industry has changed a lot since then. Singapore used to be a manufacturing hub for plating, stamping plants and wafer fabs. These days, data centre, R&D facilities and biomedical science dominate the scene. Companies now want state-of-the-art equipment and services that can be technically demanding in engineering terms. We have grown and adapted our business practices, so that we can offer a service that will always be flexible and fully functional - to the highest level - which always meets the clients' requirements," Mr Low surmises. Prestigious Projects The last 12 months have been positive for Accesstech. The company…
EDMI Meters
The future of smart metering solutions EDMI Limited is one of the leading smart metering solutions providers in the world Writer Matt Bone Project Manager Donovan Smith For more than 30 years, energy companies all over the world have relied on EDMI to deliver the flexibility and reliability they need and the innovative solutions they demand. EDMI's experience, a proven track record, and having installed millions of EDMI multi-functional smart meters installed globally, mean that EDMI's products have met and exceeded clients' expectations that led them to become a global energy solution leader. Founded in Australia in 1978, the company have been based in Singapore since 1997. EDMI have grown to 20 offices globally spreading throughout the region of Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australasia. EDMI CEO Lee Kwang Mong is very pleased with just how far the company have come in recent years: "When you look at the progress the company have made over the last 5 years, you can see just how successful we have been. We have seen our meters become commonplace across Asia and now they are a staple product in the European markets, especially in the UK, where we have seen strong sales, which continue to grow monthly." A Smart Solution A smart meter is an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy at intervals and is able to communicate with a central system. This secure communication is two-way: the meter provides information to the central "head-end" for monitoring and billing purposes, but it is also possible to perform…
Beyonics Technology
Beyond Manufacturing Beyonics Technology Limited is a leading provider of advanced contract manufacturing services for Original Equipment Manufacturers worldwide Writer Matt Bone Project Manager Tom Cullum Founded in 1981, Beyonics Technology Limited is a Singapore-based leading provider of advanced contract manufacturing services to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMS). The company provides manufacturing services to OEMS in the Automotive, Industrial, Medical and Data Storage segments and are a leading supplier of precision machined and stamped parts for the Automotive, Industrial and Data Storage industries. Beyonics Technology Limited aims to grow strategic manufacturing partnerships with its portfolio of world-class, leading-edge customers. This will be achieved through its supply chain leadership, vertically integrated operations and strong customer focus led by a dedicated and motivated management team. In 2013, Beyonics was ranked 17th in The MMI Top 50 EMS Providers. Manufacturing Market Insiders rank providers based on 2013 sales in US dollars. This is a huge achievement for the company as they have been globally recognised as one of the top electronics manufacturing services providers. Engaging the Market Michael Ng, CEO of Beyonics, is very much aware of the competition faced by the company in the Asian manufacturing markets, but believes engaging customers from the onset of design through to the commercialisation process is key to standing out from the crowd: "Competition in the manufacturing markets in Asia and especially in Singapore has been very tough. We strongly believe that by engaging our clients throughout the commercialisation process, we can garner a much greater insight into their thoughts and ideas and…
Liebherr Singapore
Asia's Aerospace Artisans Liebherr-Singapore are proving that cost effective solutions and high quality services are the key to success Writer Matt Bone Project Manager James Mitchell Liebherr-Singapore started out as a representative office for ship and offshore cranes in 1985. In 1994, the company expanded their sales and after-sales services with a bigger diversity and range of products including earthmoving equipment, crawler cranes, tower cranes, mobile cranes and port equipment. In 1995, Liebherr-Singapore added an aerospace division to repair Liebherr aerospace components which is already in use by several companies. By the middle of 1998, Liebherr had added refrigerators and freezers to their sales portfolio. Currently, the company have more than 230 staff who are housed in a prominent five-story building close to downtown Singapore, enabling them to be close to their customers in the heart of Singapore. Albert Chua, Liebherr-Singapore's Managing Director, commented on the company's steady but positive growth: "Business has increased steadily, from a turnover of €40m in 2004 to €150m today. This is down to the timely and cost-effective solutions we provide for the customer and our constant evaluation of our core services and business structure." A Busy Year Liebherr have had a very successful and productive 12 months. Each division of the company has developed and established a positive business model and made encouraging market strides in their respective industries, ensuring the name Liebherr is the first name mentioned for its crane services. One such division of the company really excelling has been mobile cranes, where sales of the product have…
Lian Beng Construction
Home-Grown Construction Giants With its current growth strategy, Lian Beng are geared to become the largest home-grown Singapore construction group Writer Matt Bone Project Manager James Mitchell Established in 1973, Lian Beng group is one of Singapore's major home-grown building construction groups with integrated civil engineering and construction support service capabilities. The group is principally involved in the construction of residential, industrial and commercial projects and civil engineering projects as a main contractor. the company originally started with 5 supervisory staff and 20 general workers, and now have more than 400 workers with an annual revenue of about half a billion Singapore dollars. Jeffery Teo, Construction Director of the company, said of the company's diverse portfolio: "we are primarily a main contractor for general construction work, with a BCA grade a1 rating. Our construction support services also serve third parties such as other construction companies. Apart from construction, we also engage in property development, mostly through joint ventures." Lian Beng's status with the Building and construction authority (BCA) as an a1 grade contractor in general Building enables it to tender for public sector building projects of unlimited contract value, while its a2 grade in civil Engineering allows it to handle engineering projects of up to $85 million in contract value. Through its years of experience and solid track record, the group has also established a solid reputation for its ability to handle large-scale and complex projects. More Than Construction Lian Beng are an integrated construction group, with an extensive and comprehensive set of construction support service…
Chinese President Places Further Focus on Africa
In his first year, president Xi Jinping has embarked on his first foreign trip, making stops in Russia and Africa. As such, the past 13 months have seen an unprecedented amount of attention on strengthening economic and political ties in Africa, according to a new policy briefing by Brookings Institution scholar Yun Sun. "China's choosing Africa to dispatch combat troops for the first time does suggest Beijing's rising interests," wrote Sun, as well as "enhanced commitment and a direct role in maintaining the peace and security of Africa." China has also dispatched a total of 16 fleets and escorted more than 5,300 ships and vessels around the Gulf of Aden, in effect taking responsibility for maintaining the security of key shipping lanes. In the past, Beijing had frowned upon "open intervention in conflicts through direct mediation", and yet in January, China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, flew to Addis Ababa to join the Ethiopian-led efforts to mediate between rebel forces and government officials from South Sudan. As China now import a significant amount of their oil from South Sudan, (around 14 million barrels in the first 10 months of 2013), a shift in their strategy is apparent. Additionally, the country is deepening its direct economic ties. Over the past year, Beijing has granted $10 billion in direct loans to African governments; the focus of Chinese investment is clearly evolving. "One striking feature of these loans lies in China's new priority in financing infrastructure, agricultural and manufacturing industries in Africa," writes Sun, "a strategy that shifts away from…
China’s Economy Close to Overtaking US
China is set to overtake the US as the world's number one economy, while India has jumped into third place ahead of Japan, according to a new study from the world's leading statistical sources. The 2011 International Comparison Program (ICP), which involves the World Bank, assesses economies based on purchasing power parity (PPP), an estimate of the real living costs. The results revealed major differences in the global economy compared with the last update in 2005. The research shows that China's GDP is at 87 per cent of the US in 2011, claiming that the Chinese and Indian economies have more than doubled relative to that of the US. Back in the 2005 study, the ICP believed China's economy was less than half the size of the US, standing at 43 per cent. "The United Stated remained the world's largest economy, but it was closely followed by China when measured using PPPs. India was now the world's third largest economy, moving ahead of Japan," the report detailed. "The results indicate that only a small number of economies have the greatest shares of world GDP. However, the shares of large economies such as China and India have more than doubled relative to that of the United States." Rapid growth has led many economists to anticipate that China, the world's second biggest economy, could move into the number one position by the time of the next report. The latest findings from the ICP could fuel a debate on whether that is likely to happen sooner rather than later.…
China, India and Japan among the World’s Top Five Markets for Securing GDP Return from ‘Built Assets’
ARCADIS study reveals that eight of the top 11 markets that will see the greatest increase in built asset performance by 2022 will be in Asia ARCADIS, the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, has published a landmark study that illustrates how buildings and infrastructure contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) across the world. Developed in conjunction with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), ARCADIS' Global Built Asset Performance Index reveals that China, India and Japan are three of the world's top five markets in terms of the level of return they generate in absolute terms from their built assets, with the US and Germany rounding out the top five. The ARCADIS report also shows that when it comes to projected improvement in built asset performance by 2022, eight of the top 11 markets from the study are located in Asia. This demonstrates the enormous potential growth for the region as more infrastructure, machinery, plants and other tangible investments are built over the coming decade. "Asia's GDP growth is poised to continue over the next decade. With continued investment in real estate and infrastructure from now until 2022, we can expect built assets to generate enormous GDP growth in many markets across the region. Investors, owners and occupiers in both the public and private sectors all have a role to play in boosting their built asset performance to the benefit of themselves and their wider economy" said Graham Kean, Regional Leader, EC Harris Asia. China leads U.S.A, India, Japan and…
Founder of Acer set to Retire
Stan Shih, the founder of Taiwan's personal computer manufacturing company Acer, said this week that he plans to retire as the chairman next month. The announcement came just six months after Shih returned to launch a series of reforms and restructuring. The company confirmed earlier reports that Shih was scheduled to retire on June 18th, the same day as its shareholders meeting, during which his successor would also be elected. The 69-year-old made the somewhat surprising revelation during a gathering with reporters, the United Evening News claims. Shih says that younger talent would be promoted to lead various divisions as the company shifts its business focus from hardware to cloud computing. It will be the company's third major transformation since founding in 1976. Shih added that he expected Acer to "return to glory" three years from now. November 2013 saw Shih replace former chairman and CEO JT Wang and the corporate president Jim Wong, who resigned after the company posted a net third-quarter loss of NT$13.1 billion ($442.2 million). A month after this in December, Shih relinquished his position of CEO and president to Jason Chen, a senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's leading contract microchip maker. Senior executives have taken voluntary salary cuts of 30 percent since January this year, as the company continues to struggle financially against tough competition from Apple and other rivals. Shih founded Acer in 1976 and built it into the world's second largest PC maker in its heyday and one of…
Mink Take on the $55 Billion Beauty Industry with a 3D Makeup Printer
Mink, a personal 3D printer for making custom cosmetics, is such an amazingly clever yet simple idea. The 'Mink' is a $300 device that will purportedly let anyone create completely customised makeup shades any time they want, from the comfort of their own home. In a world where an eyeshadow compact can cost anywhere between $5-78 a time, mirroring the changing colour trends of each season, Mink promises to cause a stir in such a commercial industry. Currently, Mink is a one-woman band, with Grace Choi as the sole founder and employee. She has already obtained an intellectual property law firm and filled her own patents, but there is still plenty to do before this can successfully break into the mainstream cosmetics market; worth over $55 billion and dominated by some seriously powerful companies and products. Choi hopes to positively influence young women's perceptions of themselves and their personal tastes through her passions for entrepreneurship, hardware creation and creating a new and innovative kind of cosmetics for this competitive sector.
Singapore Airlines Launching Premium Economy Class
Singapore Airlines (SIA) will launch a premium economy class in the second half of 2015. CEO Goh Choon Phong made the announcement at the firm's fourth quarter and full year earnings briefing on Friday. The move comes as the carrier begins to undertake key initiatives to meet intense competition in the full service airline space. SIA said it will release further details about the new cabin class in due time. At the full year earnings briefing on Friday, the carrier reported a profit of S$27 million for its fiscal fourth quarter (January-March), which was down 60 percent from the same period a year ago. For the full year-end March 31st, the airline carrier achieved a net profit of S$359.5 million, which was a 5.4 percent drop from the previous year.
Xiaomi in Global top 10 for Smartphone Shipments
With a reported 279.4 million Smartphones shipped globally in Q1 of 2014 – 97.5 million of which are in China – Chinese phone-maker Xiaomi has broken into the global top 10 for the first time, the newest figures from Canalys say. Boosted by buyers in China, half of the worldwide top 10 phone brands are now Chinese. Huawei is third, Lenovo further, Xiaomi enters at sixth, Coolpad is eighth, and ZTE is ninth. Samsung remains the global Smartphone leader, accounting for 31 percent of shipments, whilst Apple is second with 16 percent. Despite all the home-grown competition, Samsung is still ahead of the game in China, where it leads with an impressive 18 percent market share. Xiaomi got a huge boost in China and has moved to third place in the country. Xiaomi sells its Android-based phones in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. The upstart brand is working on launching in ten new countries this year, including major markets like India and Indonesia. Xiaomi's Huo Barra stated that the company's next launch will happen in Malaysia in the coming weeks, reported Tech in Asia.
Laos’ Dam Schemes Challenge Regional Cooperation
The construction of Don Sahong dam on the Mekong River in southern Laos is provoking a great deal of international criticism, especially for a dam with a relatively small generating capacity of 260 megawatts. SOURCE: East Asia Forum Author: Sarinda Singh, The University of Queensland Tensions over the project are partly the result of competing development objectives among Mekong countries for shared natural resources in the Mekong Basin. But they also reflect the weakness of regional governance forums like the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The widespread public censure that Laos's dam-building ambitions have attracted signals a distinct shift in regional politics that is only likely to intensify in coming years. Perhaps the only undisputed issue in current debates is the tremendous socio-economic and environmental value of the Mekong River. This river system sustains the world's largest inland fishery, providing crucial support for the livelihoods and food security of an estimated 60 million people, many of whom are the region's poorest. The Mekong River also boasts remarkable biodiversity, with almost 1000 fish species — second in diversity worldwide only to the Amazon River — as well as harbouring endangered species like the Mekong Irrawaddy Dolphin and Giant Catfish. About 70 per cent of the Mekong River's fish species are migratory — an unusual characteristic that is due to the river's massive seasonal variation water volumes. So despite the appeal of Mekong River dams for developing countries like Laos, they have raised significant concerns because of their huge social and environmental impacts, and their challenges to regional cooperation.…